The Global Irish Studies Centre will welcome former President of Ireland Dr Mary McAleese back to Australia more than a decade after she stood in the Opera House to announce the campaign to establish a Chair in Irish Studies at UNSW.

Her vision is to use nanotechnology to deliver drugs and gene-silencing therapies directly to cancer cells. He is a social scientist with an interest in the social and ethical issues of technological change.

Public schools in NSW are in for a shock when they start back next year. They will find there is no one at their local office to give advice on enrolling newly arrived children who do not speak English.

On 5 November 2012, the Global Irish Studies Centre held a reception for donors past and present, including those who were instrumental in building the Chair in Modern Irish Studies over a long campaign.